Licenciatura Subespecialidad
Estudia Ministerio Cristiano y Formación
Ingresa al ministerio • Desarrolla una base sólida • Impacta tu comunidad
John Brown University
2000 W. University St.,
Siloam Springs, AR 72761
479-524-9500
jbuinfo@jbu.edu
What are you looking for?
Vivimos en una sociedad compleja, global, diversa y digital. Para proclamar el evangelio y cumplir con la misión de Cristo, necesitamos personas compasivas, con una base bíblica firme, capacidad intercultural y creatividad en el ministerio. La carrera en ministerio cristiano y formación en JBU te dará las herramientas necesarias para lograrlo.
Aplica ahoraEl profesorado acompaña al estudiantado en su caminar con Cristo, brindando herramientas para fortalecer su fe y vida espiritual.
Además de ayudarte a discernir tu llamado, esta carrera te equipa para aplicar y enseñar pasajes bíblicos y para ministrar a diferentes comunidades.
Puedes especializarte en diferentes áreas ministeriales como cuidado y consejería, capellanía, liderazgo pastoral o artes de adoración.
Este programa ofrece una experiencia transformadora que prepara a quienes lo cursan para ministrar a sus comunidades y crecer en su fe.
marzo 9, 2026
En JBU, esta carrera prepara a las personas para ministrar a lo largo de toda la vida, dentro de familias, entre culturas y en distintos contextos ministeriales.
La visión es formar personas capacitadas para trabajar con niñez, juventud, personas adultas y familias en espacios como iglesias, ministerios urbanos, campamentos, negocios, misiones internacionales y organizaciones paraeclesiásticas.
En este programa descubrí mi pasión por enseñar y predicar la historia de Dios. El programa de Ministerio Cristiano y Formación de JBU fue clave para mi crecimiento personal y mi capacidad de servir pastoralmente. Me conectó con profesorado con experiencia ministerial, me dio una base sólida para liderar con propósito y me ayudó a descubrir mis dones y llamado.
Kara Shull '21
Ministerio Cristiano y Formación
Identificarás tu llamado ministerial y tu perfil único (dones espirituales, pasiones, habilidades, personalidad y experiencias).
Desarrollarás competencias para interpretar y aplicar pasajes bíblicos, enseñar y predicar, acompañar a personas de diferentes generaciones, liderar programas y eventos, y brindar consejería espiritual básica.
Participarás en actividades de compañerismo y servirás en comunidades de fe locales y organizaciones del área.
Aprendí a ministrar de manera efectiva a través de las relaciones. Aunque como ministra de niños trabajo principalmente con infancia, también conecto con madres y padres. A través de esas relaciones puedo ayudarles a crecer espiritualmente, tal como mis profesores hicieron conmigo.
Katie Jackman '21
Coordinadora de Ministerio Infantil en First Baptist Church of Oak Grove, Missouri
Aumenta el conocimiento de teorías de consejería y habilidades terapéuticas.
Prepara para brindar cuidado pastoral en hospitales, empresas u otras instituciones.
Forma para servir con eficacia a la infancia y sus familias considerando factores educativos, sociales y legales.
Ofrece bases en teorías del aprendizaje, diseño curricular y enseñanza en contextos educativos cristianos.
Prepara para liderar espiritualmente y servir pastoralmente dentro de una iglesia local.
Forma para liderar y gestionar ministerios comunitarios y organizaciones sin fines de lucro con base cristiana.
Prepara para diseñar y liderar momentos de adoración que sean teológicamente formativos.
Capacita para discipular a la juventud, considerando factores culturales, históricos y relacionales que afectan a esta etapa de vida.
Explora la diversidad teológica, filosófica y antropológica de la expresión cristiana en distintos contextos eclesiales, culturas e historias.
Curso fundamental que ofrece herramientas hermenéuticas, exegéticas y prácticas para comunicar el mensaje cristiano en diversos contextos.
Explora cómo fomentar el crecimiento cristiano a través de disciplinas espirituales, experiencias prácticas y estudios bíblicos en grupos pequeños.
Examina el proceso de sanidad espiritual y emocional, con énfasis en la consejería cristiana enfocada en problemas y soluciones.
Dr. Burch is a graduate of the Citadel (The Military College of South Carolina) where he learned to take orders, survive “sweat parties”, march with a sword without hurting himself and appreciate the irony of eating in a building referred to a “mess hall”. These unique skills and experiences equipped him with a peculiar sense of humor and perspective that served him well in later years when life events happened without warning.
When his career plans to be a college soccer coach failed to materialize, he went to Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary where he finished an M. Div. and then spent four years as a college minister in Washington, D.C. The fact that he is a university teacher can be partially attributed to the many college students who persistently bugged him during those years as a college minister to become a professor and to Josh McDowell who took him on a whirlwind tour of college campuses in 1982. So, after a brief stop in Scotland at the University of St. Andrews, he attended Baylor University where he completed his Ph.D. in 1994.
As a historian and theologian he is convinced that God is pretty big and therefore a great mystery that one lifetime on this planet will be insufficient to figure out. So since we’ll never be finished knowing this God, let’s be sure to enjoy Him. His favorite historical rules of thumb are: most of history is the history of the unintended and history is about transition, not this and then that, but rather this to that.
Dr. Burch arrived at JBU in the fall of 2011 after fourteen years in Phoenix, Arizona. Living in Siloam Springs where there are four defined seasons a year has proved to be a great joy. Teaching and serving JBU students with his colleagues has proved to be a greater joy.
He has the privilege of sharing life with his beautiful wife Sophia, whom he somehow tricked into marrying him. They have 6 grown children and 15 grandchildren. He enjoys backpacking, working out, and fly fishing.
Professor of Biblical Studies
Keith is responsible for providing leadership for the ongoing spiritual growth of the university community, specifically through the supervision of the chapel program, pastoral ministry to students and staff, and leading the Office of Christian Formation in the execution of broader campus programming. He has a doctorate in early Christianity from St. Andrews in Scotland, a master's in New Testament from Asbury Theological Seminary and a bachelor's in religion, classics and music from Augustana College. Before coming to JBU, Keith served as lead pastor and teaching pastor of Grassroots Church in Thunder Bay, Ontario.
University Chaplain; Dean of Christian Formation; Assistant Professor of Biblical Studies
Dr. Greg Robinson is currently the Associate Professor of Outdoor Leadership Ministries at John Brown University. Previously, he was the Program Director for HoneyRock, the Outdoor Center for Leadership Development of Wheaton College, as well as President of Challenge Quest, LLC in Pryor, Oklahoma, the Managing Member of Adventure Quest Recreation, LLC.
Dr. Robinson has a Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior and Leadership from The Union Institute and University in Cincinnati, Ohio. He also has a M.S. in Counseling from John Brown University.
Dr. Robinson's professional career has concentrated in the areas of experiential learning, team development, leadership development, facilitation and consulting with organizational change efforts. He is the author of A Leadership Paradox: Influencing Others by Defining Yourself; Teams for a New Generation: A Facilitator’s Field Guide; Adventure and the Way of Jesus, Lessons of the Way: Using experiential activities to explore the way of Jesus; and Leading from Where You Are: How Every Person Can Help or Hinder a Collaborative Culture.
His family includes his wife of 28 years Jeannie, his daughter Keely and her fiancée Nick LaTurner, his sons Kobe and Kyle, as well as two grandsons Lucas and Max.
Department Head, Bible and Ministry; Professor of Outdoor Leadership
Dr. David Vila came to John Brown University in the Fall of 1999 from Saint Louis University where he completed a Ph.D. in Historical Theology. His dissertation, Christian Martyrs in the First Abbasid Century and the Development of an Apologetic Against Islam, focused on early Christian-Muslim relations, especially as seen in the hagiography of the period. He spent the 1995-96 academic year on a Fulbright grant in Jordan, studying Arabic and working on his dissertation. Prior to his doctoral work, Dr. Vila completed a B.A. in English Literature at Covenant College, an M.A. and an M.Div. at Covenant Theological Seminary, and worked for two years in Ft. Lauderdale, FL with a Spanish language publisher, Editorial CLIE, that was founded in 1924 by his grandfather, Dr. Samuel Vila, in Barcelona, Spain.
Much of Dr. Vila's research and publications focus on early Christian-Muslim relations and the early development of Arabic Christianity. In addition, since 1990, he has been involved with an archaeological excavation in northern Jordan at the ancient site of Abila of the Decapolis. In 2008, he was named Director of the Abila Archaeological Project and has been leading the excavation ever since. In 2006, he started the Jordan Summer Studies Program at JBU which provides the opportunity for students to work with the excavation while earning JBU academic credit. Most summers find him traveling or excavating in the Middle East. During the 2006-07 academic year, he was a Fulbright Scholar at Jordan University where he taught in the Department of English Language and Literature and did research in the Department of Archaeology. He is currently working on a book entitled The Churches of Abila that documents the five Byzantine churches found at Abila. He is also in the midst of a book on the 11th-12th century Muslim theologian al-Ghazali.
Dr. Vila's teaching includes the Old and New Testament Survey courses in the University Core Curriculum as well as four courses on Islam (Islamic Art, The Life of Muhammad, The Qur’an, and an Introduction to Islam) as well as a course on Hinduism and Buddhism. He has also taught Greek, advanced Biblical Studies courses, History of Philosophy, and both Honors Integrated Humanities and Honors Integrated Theology in the Honors Scholars Program.
Dr. Vila has been married to Susan Vila since 1991. They have four children, Samuel (’95 – ’17), Charley (’99), Henry (’02), and Alice (’12), as well as four cats, a Pomeranian, and a KTM 790 Adventure. Their home is wonderfully chaotic.
Abila Chair in the Archaeology and History of the Biblical World; Distinguished Professor of Religion and Philosophy; Director, Abila Archaeological Project
Prepárate para una carrera exitosa y una vida con propósito.
JBU does not unlawfully discriminate based on race, color, national or ethnic origin, sex, age, disability, marital status, military status, or age in the administration of its educational policies, admissions, financial aid, employment, educational programs, or activities.
John Brown University is a leading private Christian university, training students to honor God and serve others since 1919. Arkansas’ top-ranked regional university (U.S. News) and No. 2 private university (The Wall Street Journal), JBU enrolls more than 2,500 students from 34 states and 43 countries in its traditional undergraduate, graduate, online and concurrent education programs. JBU offers over 50 undergraduate majors, with top programs including business, nursing, visual arts, engineering, teacher education, psychology, computer science, construction management, graphic design, family and human services, and engineering. Twelve graduate degrees are available in business, counseling and cybersecurity.